The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-09-23

living for himself and his hands from forty
acres of land and raise at the same time ten
bales of cotton. You rent him these forty
acres for perhaps one third Of the crop, and
you rent him at the same time mule Your
share of the crop should be three bales, which
will amount to perhaps the value OF 500.
The land, we will say, is worth $3.50 Your
mule has cost you Sl25, and your total i'll
vestment for this land has been, we will say,
$400. Out of this you have gotten 500,
which is very fair percentage"
"You were in congress before the war, were
you not, senators"
"Yes. was elected to the United States
congress in 1859"
The subject of Calhoun's monument here
came up, and l asked Senator Pugh if he had
ever seen Calhoun. He replied:
mo; visited Washington in 1850, when
the departments were draped III mourning
for Calhoun's death. He was, i'll my mind,
the greatest logiciun this country has ever
had. His great intellect was improved by
continuous hard stuoy, and he had the strong
est of convictions. He was not q man Of
feelings and of passions, as were Webster and
Clay, but one of cold, pure intellect.
81 saw both Clay and Webster during that
VISIT" Senator Pugh went on, "but Clay was
failing and lacked the fire of his early days.
l heard him speak in the senate. But he
failed to command the attention that
thought lie should have, and lie was not as
eloquent as when heard him some years be-
fore at Meridian, Miss. Webster, however,
still held all of his power. heard him in a
debate with Dayton, of New Jersey Dayton
made the first speech and in it he reviewed
Webster's record on the subject under discus
sion. He made powerful speech, and to my
mind he left Webster very little ground to
stand upon. l did not see how Webster could
reply to him, and watched him anxiously
He rose very coolly. began calmly and tore
Dayton's speech to bits. took it up piecemeal,
and demolished the whole structure He
practically annihilated him, and with the
greatest ease 1t was masterpiece"
Senator Pugh was II member of congress at
the time the war broke out. He was after
wards member of the Confederate congress
and he served throughout tho war upon the
military commit ee. He held one of the
most important positions in the congress at
Richmond. l asked him whether he thought
Davis had any idea of making himself die
tator. He replied;
"No, he did not. No man can be dictator in
this country, and Davis knew that very well.
Our people will not tolerate u king or an
emperor over them, and the moment man
attempts to make himself such he will be cut
off, think it was mistake. however, that
the Confederacy chose q military man as
president. Davis was a graduate OF West
Point He had served in the Mexican war,
and he had been secretary of war under
Pierce. He wanted to command armies and
direct the military movements, whereas it
would have been better il we had had a presi-
dent who would have devoted himself entirely
to his executive duties. Had we had business
man at our head we would not have lacked
resources Howell Cobb, for instance, would
have hypothecated the cotton at the start
and we would have plenty Of money to have
carried on the war;"
"Knowing as you do now, senator, " hat the
people Of the north were at the time the war
began; knowing what their resources were
then, and the patriotism by which they were
do you think the south ever had
any chance of SUGGEST"
ayes, think it had once This was at
Shiloh. If we had known then what we do
now we could have annihilated Grants army,
Had we done SO our troops would have pushed
on into winter quarters upon tho Ohio river.
This would have given to the south Missouri,
Kentucky and Tennessee, and with the pro-
visions and men which we would have gotten
from them think we would have been sue
cessful At the beginning of the war our
men were better disciplined and better men
than those of the north. Our army was then
had more trained men among us than the
,.kl hol ;,,I, l,oA
Shiloh, we could have brought the north to
,erms"
'sBut in that case would the Confederate
government have been successp
"No, think not. The feeling among the
oeople Of the south was such that they would
lot have consented to a permanent separa-
ion. They would have come together ON
'ome terms within year, and the old nation
would have gone on. The politicians could
1ot have kept the two sections apart Be-
ides the Confederate government was con-
srary to human civilization. Itwas contrary
o the advanced public opinion of the world
1t the time. In my mind it was bound to go
lnder. We wanted to force slavery into
erritory where nature had never intended it
hould go, and we based our struggle upon
he ground of its extension. We had been
lgitaEng the subject for generation, and |
We had come to believe SO firmly that we |
we're right that nothing but war could have |
hanged u.s. I believe now chat the fight |
vas inevitable, and / do not think that sla-
Fery could have been abolished in any other |
way. The war was cruel one, but it is bet |
.r now that it has occurred. and think |
nat the south and the north could never have |
cen permanently united IN any other way.
my compromise we might have made would
ave been only temporary and would have
reated running sore within the two sec
ons. 1t had, to be fight to death and to
xhaustion. No other way would have set
ed it..
here asked as to reconstruction, ard Sem
Tor Pugh replied:
"The policy of reconstruction was all
rong, and it was this policy which has made
le unpleasant feeling which has existed be-
reen the north and the south since the war.
!; was the fight between johnson and
,ngress that made the bloody chasm.
ohnson laid out one scheme of recon
ruction and began to carry this into
feet, the ultimate end being his per-
nal popularity. He was diametricaily